Universal Church Supplies has been in Edmonton for about 40 years, and for the last 30 at the same downtown location – until now. The family-owned and operated company, which sells everything from candles and crucifixes to giftware and jewelry, has recently opened at its new location (9527-41 Ave.) in a light industrial area just a couple of blocks off Whitemud Drive. The new store officially opened Feb. 3.

Readers of the WCR's online E-edition will have to begin paying for their access starting Feb. 25. The E-edition, which can be accessed from the Western Catholic Reporter website (www.wcr.ab.ca), is an online reproduction of the print edition of the newspaper. It also contains access to videos related to some international stories published in the newspaper.

Apologies to the students of residential schools from the various bodies that ran those schools are an essential starting point in dealing with that issue. But they are far from being the endpoint. Indeed, a more basic question is, what is the endpoint and how do apologies help us get there?

Young Theodore Fontaine recalls skipping along the road on his way to his first year at an Indian residential school near his Fort Alexander Reserve in eastern Manitoba. The seven-year-old boy was looking forward to becoming a "school kid," looking forward to developing the ability to read those English-language comic books that so entranced him.

When Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized on behalf of Canadians for the residential school system in 2008, one item was notably absent from the list of matters for which he was sorry – chronic underfunding of the schools. A major reason that the experience of children in the schools was, as Harper said, "profoundly negative" was that the federal government never came close to providing enough money to operate and maintain the schools adequately.

The life of being homeless and on the street is tough. But the Neighbour Centre is one faith-based response for people who often have nowhere to turn. "The reality is quite tough," says Kris Knutson, executive director of the year-old agency on Edmonton's south side. "We have some extremely resilient people. The things that they deal with on a day-to-day basis would be paralyzing for most of us."

For the sisters who ran the Indian residential school at Beauval, Sask., cutting children's hair was simply a matter of preventing lice from getting into the school. But for the children, the mandatory hair-cutting exercise meant the loss of their spirit. Arriving at the school when she was four years old, Mary Matchee was placed in a line with all the new children to meet a priest with shears and sisters with long scissors.

Two Edmonton couples say they hope the world Synod of Bishops on the family in October will lead to more inclusive, pastoral approaches to dealing with family concerns. Pope Francis has asked the bishops to examine how the Church can guide and help the family. The Canadian bishops recently submitted their input to the pope, and the bishops in several nations have sought public input before responding to the pope's request for advice.

OTTAWA – Canada's bishops have sent the results of a consultation on a host of hot button issues concerning the family to the Holy See, but will not make their report public. This is not the first time Rome has invited input from bishops' conferences in advance of a synod, and the normal practice has been to do so privately, said Archbishop Paul-André Durocher, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB).

The archbishop, former rectors and hundreds of St. Joseph's Basilica parishioners celebrated a beautiful faith journey 100 years in the making. On Saturday, Feb. 1, people relived the journey of the basilica, from the start of construction in 1923 to its consecration in 1963 and onward. As the seat of the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton, people reflected on the key features of the basilica, and the meaning they hold for them.